SARATOGA BATTLEFIELD.

On March 30, 1917, Hon George H. Whitney of Mechanicville introduced in the Senate a bill appropriating $25,000 for the acquisition by the State of the Saratoga battlefield in the town of Stillwater, Saratoga county, and placing it in the care of the New York State Historical Association. The bill is pending at the date of this Report. Similar bills, differing slightly in details, have been introduced in the six preceding legislatures. (See our Report for 1916, page 276.)*

BOND ISSUE FOR PARK EXTENSION

The last Legislature enacted a law chapter 569 of the laws of 1916 authorizing the issue of bonds to the amount of $2,500,000 for the purchase of land for the Palisades Interstate Park and bonds to the amount of $7,500,000 for the purchase of land for the State Forest Preserve, if such bond issues should be approved by the electors of the State at the general election held Novmber 7, 1916.

The proposal submitted was non-political and non-partisan, and was endorsed universally by friends of the forests and organizations which have for years been identified with the creation of the great playgrounds which are so important for the entire population of the State. Among these organizations were the Conservation Commission, the New York Board of Trade and Transportation, the Camp Fire Club of America, the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, the New York State Fish, Game and Forest League, the New York State Forestry Association, the Adirondack League Club, the National Association of Audubon Societies, the Long Island Game Protective Association, and the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, which joined in an active campaign for its adoption. The proposition was opposed by those who alleged that the expenditure of the money would be used for political purposes. The disinterestedness of the advocates of the measure, however, was indicated by the fact, among others, that private gifts amounting to $2,500,000 were pledged to the Palisades Interstate Park conditional upon the

*The bill remained in the Finance Committee.

adoption of the referendum. The popular vote gave the large majority of 150,496 in favor of the bond issue, the returns showing that the favorable result was due to the preponderating sentiment of the voters of New York City and the southeastern part of the State, as follows:

PALISADES INTERSTATE PARK

In the campaign in favor of the issue of bonds to the amount of $10,000,000 by the State of New York for the purchase of land for park purposes, referred to under the preceding head, a pamphlet was issued under the auspices of this Society and the other organizations just named, giving interesting facts about the Palisades Interstate Park and the State Forest Preserve. The following pages (309-311) concerning the former are taken from it:

The Palisades Interstate Park lies at the very door of the greatest city on earth and is immediately accessible to a population of nearly 10,000,000 people. It consists of wild forests and mountain land, laid out with trails and drives and studded with natural and artificial lakes of wonderful scenic beauty. The camp sites

* Unofficial.

which it offers are practically unlimited, and the opportunities which it presents to millons of city-penned people for healthful out-of-door recreation are unequalled in attractiveness and accessibility anywhere else in the world.

In the single season of 1916 it was visited by 1,500,000 persons. 5,000 Boy Scouts camped on the shores of one pond alone. At another camp site 3,000 working girls were accommodated during the same season. In a third camp 428 under-nourished and anaemic boys from New York City were encamped for from two to eight weeks each, in an attempt to bring them back to health and strength. Their red blood cells increased nine per cent, and they gained a total weight of 1,712 pounds, proving the experiment so thoroughly successful that this work will hereafter become a permanent feature upon a far larger scale. Other camps were scattered everywhere throughout the Park, and particularly along the watersides.

The first great problem in the development of the Palisades Interstate Park, a problem already largely solved, was that of making the property quickly and easily accessible. For this purpose twenty large piers have been built along the Hudson river waterfront, besides numerous small landing stages for motor boats and canoes. Three lines of ferries from New York City have been established through the efforts of the Commission. In addition, two large boats have been provided to make daily round trips over the forty-five miles of river to Bear Mountain. By special arrangement of the Commission the fare for the round trip of ninety miles was fixed at fifty cents.

From the docks and landing stages along the river, paths have been constructed, following the shore line through groves and pienic grounds and through the upland, many of these paths connecting with the trails and roads which reach out to all sections of the Park. Under-water lands have been filled in for playgrounds and motor boat basins, bathing beaches have been constructed, and bathing floats have been provided. Up the cliffs at Englewood the Commission has constructed one of the most wonderful roads in the country, which it is now extending as a driveway northward through the Park to Alpine.

At Bear Mountain, in the Highlands of the Hudson, ramps and paths have been built from the dock landings to Highland Lake.

A large playground and athletic fields, including base-ball diamonds and tennis courts, have been constructed. At Highland Lake, which has been cleaned and raised, a boathouse has been built and free row-boats are provided. Bear Mountain Inn has been erected to provide refreshments at a cost to meet all pocketbooks. Throughout other sections of the Highlands roads have been made, lakes have been improved, and new lakes have been created on the sites of old swamps. Spanning Popolopen creek at Bear Mountain, the Commission, working in conjunction with the State Highway Department, has constructed a six hundred foot steel arch bridge which links up the road system of the Interstate Park with other roads now under construction by the Highway Department. They will ultimately provide a wonderful motor highway along the river bank throughout the entire extent of the Highlands. (See plate 55.)

One hundred miles of fire trails have been cleared, and five fire patrol towers, connected by a telephone line of nineteen miles, have been erected. Two thousand acres of denuded land have been reforested with two million trees supplied without cost from the state nurseries of the Conservation Commission.

In the creation of this wonderful vacation ground the State of New York has appropriated, in money and lands, $3,150,000. The State of New Jersey has appropriated $400,000 for expenditure within the State of New Jersey. In addition the Commission has received private contributions in money and lands amounting to the grand total of $4,480,000, or more than the total investment of both the States of New York and New Jersey. No other park in the world has received similar support from private sources. No other park in the world fills a similar social need for so many people.

As before stated, the bond issue referendum provided that $2,500,000 should be expended for additional land for the Palisades Interstate Park, and before the last election the Park Commission obtained private subscriptions of $2,500,000, which is to be added to the State's bond issue for the further development of the property. Together they make a total of $5,000,000, which will carry the plans for the development of the Palisades Interstate Park to substantial completion.